TURA:
Worried about the government move to establish village councils amid fear of a dilution of their powers, a group of village chieftains, or Nokmas from the Garo Hills region who are also the custodians of the land, have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising their concern and seeking changes.
The village chieftains, under the aegis of the council of nokmas, have recently dispatched a letter to the prime minister, putting across their objections and accusing the elected members of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council of failing to take their views on the subject.
The nokmas allege that the MDCs of the GHADC failed to discuss the issue with them which should have been the first priority because their views are crucial on the subject which required to be submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Standing Committee in Parliament.
Going back to history, the village headmen (nokmas) have claimed that opposition to the establishment of village councils was made known way back as 1958 and it was only when the GHADC was part of erstwhile undivided Assam that the village council act was imposed.
Their (nokmas) grouse is that the Village Council Act of 1958 is not tenable in present day council because the GHADC is no longer a part of Assam but inside the state of Meghalaya.
The fear among the village headmen is that their existing powers in the rural areas, particularly on land transfer and sale, will be usurped and handed over to the elected members of the village councils, even though the government has been reiterating that
elected bodies in villages will ensure a steady stream of funds for development of the villages through a democratically elected process.
A move to include “unrepresented Tribes” in the district council under the Sixth Schedule Bill of 2019 has also been objected by the village headmen who are seeking its deletion from the amendment bill on the grounds that the district council elections are open to all tribes from the Garo Hills. The amended Sixth Schedule bill that seeks to have in place 42 MDCs, out of which six members are to be nominated, is also in the crosshair of the nokmas.
They have raised objection to the alleged move to have two women and four men from the “unrepresented tribes” nominated because they maintain that during successive council elections candidates, both men and women, representing different tribes from
the region have always contested the polls.
In place of the six members list, the village headmen are rooting for just one member to be nominated to the council.
The nokmas are apprehensive of what lies ahead since they have been left out of any decision making in the context of the village council even though the act directly impacts them at the village level.